The Federal Aviation Administration abruptly closed, then reopened the airspace around El Paso International Airport, causing widespread confusion and grounding flights Wednesday morning.
The FAA initially cited “special security reasons” for what would be a 10-day closure announced late Tuesday. However, restrictions were lifted just hours later on Wednesday morning after the FAA stated on social media that there was no threat to commercial aviation and all flights would resume as normal.
The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted. There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal.
— The FAA
(@FAANews) February 11, 2026
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy later attributed the closure to a “cartel drone incursion,” adding that the threat had been “neutralized.”
Citing three anonymous sources familiar with the situation, the Associated Press reported that the closure stemmed from a dispute between the Pentagon and the FAA over the military’s plans to test a laser designed to shoot down drones used by Mexican drug cartels.
According to the report, the FAA shuttered the airspace after the Pentagon decided to proceed with the test despite a meeting between the agencies being scheduled for later in the month to coordinate.
FreightWaves reached out to the FAA for comment.
A growing problem
The incident comes as national security concerns grow due to rising drone activity along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In his July 2025 testimony before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Steven Willoughby, a director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program, stated that transnational criminal organizations use drones “nearly every day” to transport narcotics and surveil law enforcement.
Willoughby testified that in the last six months of 2024, over 27,000 drones were detected within 500 meters of the southern border. He noted these drones are used to smuggle thousands of pounds of narcotics, including a UAS seized in October 2023 that carried enough fentanyl pills to “kill tens of thousands of Americans.”
Drone countermeasures in place
Local military installations have been actively training to address such threats.
Fort Bliss, the U.S. Army post in El Paso, conducted a large-scale integrated defense exercise in August 2025 that simulated multiple security threats, including a drone incursion, to test its counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) protocol. The exercise involved the Fort Bliss Fire Department, Army Criminal Investigation Division agents, and military police.
A separate report from the 1st Armored Division noted that Fort Bliss conducted its first advanced C-UAS training exercise in April 2025 in response to a newly assessed UAS threat level. The exercise utilized systems with radar and electromagnetic sensors for surveillance and mitigation.
The sudden airspace closure caused significant disruptions. The New York Times reported that over 1,000 flights were set to be canceled over the would-be closure period. Local officials, including El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson and U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, stated they received no advance notice of the shutdown, with Johnson calling the failure to communicate “unacceptable.”
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